AMD's 1-GHz and 1.2-GHz processors are an important first step in the company's plan to battle Intel on the server front, a market that has recently seen Intel's unveiling of its long-awaited Itanium architecture. AMD's processors are complemented by the AMD-760 MP chip set, which supports double-data-rate memory.

"We'll introduce our X86 64-bit technology with the Hammer family to deliver four- and eight-way processing, but the Athlon MP [chips] are really our stepping stones into the one- and two-way marketplace," said Brent Kerby, product marketing manager for the workstation and server division at AMD (Sunnyvale, Calif.). "We'll start sampling Hammer products at the end of this year, and right now we're laying the pathway."

One key to AMD's server plans is its Smart MP technology, charged with increasing the data movement between a system's processors, chip set and memory. As implemented in AMD's new products, Smart MP technology features dual point-to-point, high-speed 266-MHz system buses with support for error correcting code, providing up to 2.1 Gbytes/second of bus bandwidth for each CPU in a dual-processor system.

"Smart MP allows the CPU to continue working while outstanding data requests are being filled," Kerby said. "It keeps track of the data in the CPU cache, and instead of looking for data in the memory, it looks for the data from the CPU, which reduces memory traffic and increases bandwidth."

Over 20 systems manufacturers announced availability of systems based on the multiprocessors on Tuesday, and AMD said it is working with Tyan Computer Corp. on system boards based on the 760 MP chip set. While the server market is notoriously slow to adopt new chips, it is being presented with an array of processor choices, including AMD's Athlon architecture, Intel's Itanium architecture, and Sun's UltraSparc III.

"The Athlon MP processor provides the ammunition the company needs for a credible assault on professional workstation and entry-level server segments," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64 (Saratoga, Calif.). "As AMD broadens its line it gives system suppliers new ways to differentiate their products and increases the choices available."

The 1-GHz Athlon MP processors is priced at $215 each and the 1.2-GHz version is priced at $265 each in 1,000-unit quantities.